Daily News

US - Job seekers: Confidence up, challenges remain

October 16 2013

Job seekers are increasingly optimistic, according to Monster’s mid-year Workforce Talent Survey released today. Current job seekers have an overall positive outlook: 53 percent of those surveyed feel confident they could secure a new job within the next 10 to 12 months, while only 15 percent are not confident at all.

“This trend in optimism among job seekers may be indicative of an improving economy,” said Jeffrey Quinn, vice president of Monster’s Global Insights. “These findings are consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics published this summer. In the bureau’s reports, we saw unemployment decrease steadily in June, July and August. As demand for employees increases, so will job seeker confidence.”

Despite the optimism, the survey suggests that challenges remain. Seventy-seven percent believe that the market is saturated with qualified people in their specialty, up slightly from 73 percent six months ago, while the percentage of seekers who agree that employers are willing to provide the necessary time and training needed to support a position reduced from 42 percent to 35 percent.

Changes in sentiment of Monster jobs seekers over the past six months include:

34 percent said they were not finding jobs for which they were qualified, improving from 47 percent

43 percent believe there are more job openings now than a year ago, up from 38 percent

49 percent are struggling to find a job that matches what they want (e.g., salary, location, etc.), improving from 56 percent

67 percent agree that it is more challenging to find a job, improving from 77 percent

47 percent are discouraged from the lack of contact from employers, improving from 57 percent

51 percent feel their skills and abilities are understood by employers; down slightly from 53 percent

The Monster online survey included more than 1,800 job seekers using Monster.com and took place from June 24 to Aug. 8.

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